Konoha Corp
by Jav-chan
Summary: To escape from her father's oppressive control the young heiress of a prominent zaibatsu joins a lucrative shadow agency and starts to build a life for herself that she had never dreamed of. A story told in bits and pieces. Sasu/Saku, Naru/Hina: Their first meeting was fleeting, a mere glance of no significance. Yet that glance was the beginning of everything.
1. Prologue

**Konoha Corp.**

* * *

**Prologue**

* * *

"Are you sure I'll be accepted, Mayu?"

Mayumi Haruno glanced over at her niece and shook her head as she watched Sakura wrap a colorful, silk calypso headscarf around her signature pink hair. The gradienting emerald to vivid malachite shades was shot with silver threads.

Although it was one of Sakura's favorite headscarves it was also one that she rarely wore. Normally, she preferred scarves that were myriad of colors-enough to draw the attention of the average of observer, but not enough that anyone would wonder as to the color of the hair that was carefully braided and hidden beneath the scarves.

Mayumi often thought it was such a shame that her niece was half-terrified to step outside of the family estate with her hair exposed.

Sakura had inherited the soft, pink strands from her long deceased mother-the elder sister that Mayumi had wanted to idolize but couldn't. Sometimes Mayumi couldn't help but see her niece as her sister would have been if she had been able to have a thought to call her own. Sakura was strong-willed in ways her sister had never hoped to be, unknowingly resisting her father's will to mold her into a doll-beautiful yet vacant...

Except there were times, like now when her hands fluttered over the looped knot of her headscarf like the wings a bird, that Sakura reverted to the scared little girl that she had been when Mayumi had first taken her under her care.

But that was her brother-in-law's influence after all, so it couldn't be helped.

It had beens years since either of them had seen Sakura's father but always his presence loomed like a shadow over Sakura, and his pointed, clipped letters didn't help matters.

Just a shadow of a presence in her poor niece's life, but still that was enough to upset her.

That was why Sakura had to be accepted.

"Mayu?"

Mayumi shook her head to clear her thoughts. Positive energy. That was what Sakura needed now, even if she couldn't reassure her that she would be accepted as Tsunade's apprentice.

"Nothing's certain, Sakura-chan. Thanks to Shizu's tutoring I think you have a better chance then most. You just need to keep in mind that the Hokage hasn't agreed to apprentice anyone since she took on Shizu when she was twelve, or at least that's what Aku tells me."

Mayumi let out a huff to cover her sigh of relief at Sakura's sudden giggle. The sound was both startling and reassuring that her niece could still laugh at their old joke (even if it was at her husband's expense). If she could find in herself to laugh before her interview then she would have have a better chance.

"And remember."

Sakura turned back to her aunt, her head tilted at a quizzical angle.

"You have one thing that few of the previous applicants had."

"What's that?"

"Shizu's letter of recommendation and a damn mean right hook!"

* * *

**So my official return to the fanfiction world was supposed to be an "outtake" of sorts for Bound. It's actually not a long piece and is more "WTF?!" than even the omake chapters. I hope to post it soon.**

**In the meantime it has come to my attention that July is (I think) Sasu/Saku month. So I've been inspired by JinnySkeans' daily update and thought I would try my hand at it by posting small pieces on a daily basis…**

**We'll see how long that lasts. ^^;;**

**If you've read some of my other pieces that you know that Konoha Corp. is an idea that I've had for sometime. (Over five years actually…)**

**I hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter Once

**Konoha Corp.**

* * *

**Chapter One**

* * *

He was outside, indulging in a sudden whim to complete his mission report on the patio concealed that was reserved only for the shinobi of Konoha Corp., when he saw her. The foliage had been selected and planted to grow in a manner that hid the patio from the view of passers-by, but also allowed Konoha's employees to study them unobserved.

More than once it had been a matter of life and death for his fellow shinobi.

So out of habit he glanced up as the people trickled in and out of the massive tower that made up the main building of Konoha Corp as he worked on completing his report.

_-Despite the dobe's numerous attempts-_

It probably wasn't professional to refer to Naruto that way-and his mother certainly would have been horrified if she knew that he wrote his mission reports like this-but he had a suspicion that their Hokage had a twisted enough sense of humor that she enjoyed reading his reports on how the dobe had nearly botched another important mission.

It was in that moment when he glanced up, smirking at the memory of their most recent mission, that he saw her.

She was walking closer to the concealed patio then most of the pedestrians usually did, if it wasn't for three simultaneous observations.

Firstly, the odd green jewel tones of the headscarf that was knotted at the nape of her neck. Not a single strand of hair escaped her scarf and it was an odd contrast to the conservative blazer and the tailored skirt, the hem of which ruffled in the city wind to reveal slashes of cherry-red fabric as she moved. The oddness was enough to arrest his attention for more then a moment. Even his pen stilled against the paper of his report.

Secondly, the way, just as his eyes swept down and up the line of her body, the she stopped. Her hands gripped the dark worn straps of a briefcase that had seen better days. She paused and tilted her head as if she was listening for something. It reminded him of the mannerisms of the med-nin when they healed difficult woulds in the middle of a battle. Then she turned her head and, even though he was secure in the knowledge that she couldn't really see him, their eyes met.

And finally, the sweet scent that reminded him of late starlit nights and cherry blossoms, as she shook her head and pushed through the glass doors of the main tower.

To his own irritation it was a long time before Sasuke was able to put his concentration back on his report. She wasn't exceptionally pretty, he argued with himself, but she was dressed different than the other civilians that normally entered the tower. As if she had a purpose.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

It was only when he realized that the annoying, relentless tapping was coming from his own pen tip tapping against the half-written report that he realized the peace of the patio had been shattered by the sudden, odd-looking, annoying woman and the brief tantalizing scent of her perfume.

Muttering curses about women in general under his breath Sasuke gathered up his mess of papers and pens and stuffed them into the portfolio that contained the mission details. With the progress that he was making he was better off going up to Naruto's flat to finish the report. At the very least he had learned to ignore Naruto's insistent chatter so that it was nothing more than a steady drone of noise that helped to focus him.

(He claimed Kakashi's influence as fault for that.)

* * *

Perhaps that was why, a couple of weeks later, when he saw her in the Hokage's office hunched over a stack of paperwork that the Hokage had undoubtedly foisted off on her, that he couldn't stop staring at her.

He couldn't keep his eyes off of the bare line of her neck or the way that her _(pink?!)_ hair was pulled up into a high tail with the edges curling over her shoulders and around the base of her neck.

It was physically difficult to turn his attention back to the Hokage as she gave them the details of their mission, and his gut clenched when he passed by her little desk and once again he was lost in the scent of starlight and cherry blossoms.

As he left the office he tried not to think too hard about the strange, almost terrifying gleam in the Hokage's eyes as she looked directly at Sasuke and told him what she expected him to do for the mission. If he didn't know any better he would have sworn that her eyes had flicked over him, to the girl in the corner, and back again.

* * *

**Because Tsunade is her own brand of scary and she has PLANS.**

**These short bits are actually a little fun...even if they are a bit reminiscent of Bound in the beginning, and FYI there is going to be a small cross over with a certain character from another series once the Sasu/Saku drama really starts to fly. I'm really excited about it and hope to get to him soon. (It's one of those cross-overs that you would NEVER suspect, at least not for Naruto.)**


End file.
